This invention relates generally to the manipulation of carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes are known to have potential applications in a wide variety of areas. Potential applications include the fabrication of electronic devices, mechanical systems, and biological systems. Each of these applications generally comprehends the need to be able to manipulate individual carbon nanotubes. For example, in order to form a carbon nanotube-based field effect transistor, it would be desirable to align carbon nanotubes under a gate electrode with a gap between the carbon nanotubes. In a myriad of other examples, there is a need to manipulate carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes may be moved from one location to another. However, it would be desirable to know the orientations of the carbon nanotubes.
Single walled carbon nanotubes are extremely anisotropic, with diameters of about one nanometer and lengths of a few microns. While optical trapping and sorting of a single wall carbon nanotubes has been proposed, no existing theoretical model predicts the behavior and orientation of different species of carbon nanotubes in an optical trap. This is apparently due to the unique shape and optical properties of carbon nanotubes.
There are methods to observe carbon nanotubes, including transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. However, these techniques cannot be used for determining the orientation of carbon nanotubes during manipulation.
Thus, there is a need for ways to control and detect the orientation of carbon nanotubes.